


The Rest of the Night

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [14]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Comfort, F/F, Fear, Season 3, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-18 23:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20200222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: It was only a few days ago they first spent a fun night together.A night like this is far different.





	The Rest of the Night

“This should neutralize the shirshu toxins,” Aiwei said, gently cradling Korra’s head and pouring something into her mouth that smelled like otter seal urine mixed with motor oil. 

If it could get her moving again, she’d drink far worse, and kiss him for it. 

Though it wasn’t like she had a choice. Ever since Zaheer’s darts had pricked her, she’d been as limp and useless as a dead otter seal. 

Within a second, she was twitching her finger. After another, she’d lifted her leg. Three sighs of relief**\--**her friends’--came from the other couch. It was only a few feet away, but it had been outside of Korra’s line of sight, and she’d had no idea they were there. 

“How could you let this happen?” Lin said, standing with her sister behind the couch Korra was sprawled out on. “You assured me this was one of the most secure places in the world.”

Korra moved like all of Naga’s weight was pressing down on her, but she managed to push her head up. 

“It _is_. I don’t know how this happened. Obviously this was a well-planned operation so don’t blame me!” Su didn’t raise her voice like Lin might, but her words came packed together so nobody else could get one in. 

Before Lin could try, one of the guards stepped into the doorway. Korra tried to raise her head to look at her, but the effort pushed her right back to where she’d started. She closed her eyes and allowed her breath to catch up. “We searched the entire estate,” the guard said. “But there’s no sign of them.”

“Well keep looking!” Lin growled at them. 

“It would seem they had some inside knowledge of Zaofu,” Aiwei said, rising from Korra’s side as more and more of the weight lifted off of her. “They must have been working with someone.” 

His antidote had worked its way through her now--enough for Korra to sit up. “The guards,” Korra said, too exhausted to feel relief that she could speak. “It had to be one of them.” 

“I agree,” Aiwei said. 

“Question them all!” Suyin demanded, with the same air of aggrieved authority as the Earth Queen she so loved to criticize. “Whoever betrayed my city will suffer the consequences!” Suyin snarled stalking her way out of the room.

Korra turned to look at her friends--pure visages of relief, concern, and anxiety in their rumpled bedclothes.

“You owe Pabu _so_ many treats!” Relief said, slumping back against the couch. 

“If all the guards are searching the city, how sure can we be Zaheer isn’t hiding out nearby?” Anxiety wondered, his eyes already out of focus as he thought. 

“Are you okay?” Concern asked, sitting between them, barely moving. 

For the other two, for the boys, Korra put on a weak smile, but she knew that Asami saw right through it. She could still see the worry in her eyes. 

Mako might be contemplating threats, but Asami was the one who knew the night wasn’t over. 

Lin sighed. “You kids should get back to bed and try to get some sleep.” 

Korra snorted. Sleep. Right. 

“We’ll get to the bottom of this in the morning,” Lin said, sounding a little irritated there was nobody in the room she could yell at. 

“I don’t know how I…” Bolin yawned, leaning his head back, “could possibly get back… to…” 

Mako stood. “The Chief is right,” he said, his voice lowered so as not to awaken his brother. “We don’t know the city well enough to help with the search, and we’ll be sharper if we get some rest.” 

Korra twisted so her feet were on the floor, pushing Aiwei’s help away. “I’m not sure how well I can sleep with my window busted... “ her eyes went wide, and she grabbed Aiwei’s arm. “Naga. She got hit too! You have to--”

“Naga already shook off the toxin,” Asami said. “I knew you’d be worried, so I checked while Aiwei was getting the antidote. She was trying to claw her way out of your room, but I calmed her down.” 

Korra nodded. “Thanks.” She glanced at Mako, who’d gone over to quietly discuss strategy with Lin. “Walk me back to my room?” 

Asami gave her a flat smile. “Of course.” She rose, her pink bed robe fluttering as she stepped around the tea table and offered Korra her hand. 

Korra took it, allowing Asami to pull her up, and in no hurry to let go of Asami’s hand after. Their faces were inches from each other. “You took the time to put on makeup?” 

Asami chuckled. “No. I… never took it off.” 

“I happen to know you wash your face at night,” Korra said, as they walked into the hall, hand-in-hand. “Were you expecting a visitor?” 

Asami looked away, more demure than Korra expected. “No. It’s… a little embarrassing honestly but… I had an idea for a modification for the engines on my company’s biplanes. A little engineering problem that had been nagging at me, and… I got a bit distracted working on the math.” 

Korra stopped in the middle of the hallway, their joined hands making Asami stop as well. “You were up at two in the morning working on an engineering idea?” 

“It happens sometimes!” Asami insisted. 

Korra’s chuckle turned into a yawn. 

Asami bit her lip, then pulled Korra into a hug. Korra was startled at first, but wrapped her arms around Asami all the same. 

“You… do you want to talk?” 

Korra glanced around the hallway. It felt deserted, which only made the idea they were being listened to even stronger. “Not here,” she said. “Can we… I want to check on Naga, but there’s no way I can sleep in there tonight. Not with the window broken!” 

Korra’s laugh didn’t fool herself, much less Asami. Asami squeezed her hand. “You think I could sleep without _knowing_ you’re safe, myself? You said we’re on bed-sharing terms, remember? I’m hereby invoking that.” 

Korra laughed again, a little more truthfully this time. She knew, if they’d been sharing a bed when Zaheer came, Asami would’ve just been knocked out too, or worse… Even knowing that, the prospect of having Asami there, in bed with her, still made her feel _safer_, somehow.

Her throat hitched. Suddenly, she needed to be out of the hallway, somewhere where there was no chance anybody could see her. She picked up her pace. Asami seemed to sense her mood, matching her speed and silence all the way to Korra’s room. 

Korra barely had the door open before Naga rushed her, licking her arms and whining deep in her throat. Korra wrapped herself around Naga’s thick neck, fingers clenched in Naga’s fur. 

She was crying. 

Asami placed a gentle hand on her back. 

“I couldn’t move,” Korra said, to Asami, to Naga. To herself. “I couldn’t even scream. They carried me around like I was dead weight, and the most I could do was open my eyes and watch them try to kill…” 

She shuddered. Asami’s hand moved up to her shoulder, making room for the rest of Asami to embrace her from behind. “You’re safe now,” she whispered. 

Korra buried her face in Naga’s fur. “Even when Amon bloodbent me, I could struggle, I could at least try to move. This was like… my body wasn’t even my own anymore. I could see and I could hear but I couldn’t… I couldn’t _do_ anything. I can’t… I can’t believe they could take everything away from me like that! Just a few darts!” 

“Korra…” 

She reached up, clutching Asami’s fingers on her shoulder. “They could’ve killed me. If the darts had been poisonous instead of paralyzing… they could’ve killed me. What do they even want me for if they didn’t just want me dead?!” 

Asami squeezed her tight. Korra realized that she was crying too. “That’s never going to happen. We’re not going to let them capture you. _I’m_ never going to let them.” 

Korra shook her head. “I never want to feel like that again. Unable to move, to protect myself… I never want to feel that helpless again!”

Naga whined, nuzzling up against her. Asami found the strength to hold her closer still, suffusing her with comfort, with support, with the solid reassurance of her presence. 

Between the two of them, Korra was nearly as immobilized as he had been by the shirshu toxin. But instead of being carried off to who-knows-what evil end, she was being held safe, held close. 

Her tears flowed, and flowed, ice melt flowing out to sea from the bottomless glacier of her fears: that she wasn’t strong enough. That she wouldn’t be able to fulfill her duties. That she’d fail the world, fail herself, all over again, and even worse than before.

“I can’t imagine how terrifying this was,” Asami said, her voice a desert. “I can’t believe how brave you are. But you don’t need to be brave all the time.” 

Korra shook her head, still crying. “The world needs me, though.” 

“The world can get along until morning,” Asami said, and while Korra’s tears didn’t slow, she did discover a little smile. 

“Take your time,” Asami continued. “I’m not going anywhere. But when you’re done, we’ll head to my room. There’s room for Naga, too.”

“I don’t think I can sleep,” Korra said. 

“Me either,” Asami said. “But I think it’ll feel good for the two of us to lie down.” 

Korra nodded--whether or not she got to sleep, she’d be afraid to try if someone wasn’t there for her. “Thank you,” she whispered. 

“Anytime,” Asami reassured her, squeezing her hand. “Anything I can do to protect you. Anything I can do to make you feel safe. I’m here for you, okay?” 

“I’m the one that’s supposed to be protecting everyone,” Korra whispered. “I couldn’t--”

“Shh,” Asami said, leaning so Korra could see her. “Korra, you’ve been through something terrifying. I hate when I see you hurting, I hate that people do this to you. You’re absolutely allowed to feel scared when something like this happens! It’s absolutely okay to cry. I want to be here to help you with every tear. But I’m not going to sit here and let you feel _guilty_ about what somebody _else_ did to you! Do you hear me?” 

“But… I could’ve--”

“Could’ve slept through the night like you deserved to if those bastards hadn’t shown up? Woken up tomorrow and enjoyed another beautiful day here with your friends, instead of having another place of safety taken from you?” 

“Asami,” Korra gulped. “you’re--”

“Furious!” Her nostrils flared. “These past few weeks here are the calmest and most at peace I think I’ve ever seen you! I’m relieved we were able to save you from whatever Zaheer wants you for, but he still took that peace from you, and I don’t think I can ever forgive that.” 

Korra let go of Naga, so she could hug her friend with both arms. “Asami… nobody’s ever talked about my life that way before.” 

“Well, it’s past time they should,” Asami said. “I know what it’s like, when people see everything about your position and nothing about you as a person. You deserve to be seen, Korra. You deserve to be yourself. For a little while here, you were safe to be.” 

“I guess so. But… it’s not all gone,” Korra said, her eyes drying as she suddenly found the need to cheer _Asami_ up. “After all, a big part of why I’ve felt so at ease lately has been having you around.”

She couldn’t tell in the dim light of her room, but Asami may have blushed. “Well, then, I’ll make sure I’m around as often as I can be.”

Korra was starting to cry again, but not because she was scared. “Thank you, Asami. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Just…” With some difficulty, she managed to swallow. “You’re such a good friend, I… I needed this, right now.” 

Asami raised a hand, tracing a tear off Korra’s cheek. “I know. That’s why I needed to be here. Now… let’s get out of this room and get to bed. I want to get up early tomorrow so we can start tracking Zaheer down. He’s hurt my best friend, and I’m going to make him pay.” 

Korra smiled, allowing Asami to take her hand again. ‘Best friend’ didn’t come close to covering how she felt about the woman, but, for the life of her, Korra couldn’t think of any other word that did. “He doesn’t stand a chance.”


End file.
